SELCO Foundation

SELCO Foundation seeks to inspire and implement solutions that alleviate poverty by improving access to sustainable energy for underserved communities across India, in a manner that is socially, financially, and environmentally sustainable.

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SELCO has pioneered the delivery of sustainable energy to the poor in India in a way that creates assets and results in long-term poverty alleviation these solutions increase incomes, improve quality of life, and alleviate poverty. SELCO firmly believes that an end-user centric, demand-driven approach to ecosystem building leads to interventions that are long-term and replicable, deliberately pushing for local ownership from end to end with a holistic, decentralised approach to development. SELCO Foundation is a registered Trust in India.

Headquarters: Bengaluru, Karnataka

Major Areas of Work

• Livelihoods: Enabling sustainable energy solutions across agriculture, animal husbandry, crafts and textiles, micro-businesses, millet processing, and entrepreneurs with disabilities.

• Healthcare: Improving access to reliable, energy-enabled health services in underserved communities.

• Education: Enabling sustainable energy access to strengthen educational infrastructure and outcomes.

• Built Environments: Designing energy-efficient, dignified built spaces, including work under "WORK AT 45°C" for heat-resilient workspaces.

• Incubation: Supporting innovators and entrepreneurs building sustainable energy-driven solutions.

• Skills Institute: Developing practitioner-oriented curriculums and skill-building programs to create local changemakers.

• Inclusive Finance: Building context-specific, asset-based financing mechanisms for sustainable energy adoption among the poor.

Major Initiatives & Programmes

• Ecosystem Approach (5 Enabling Conditions): SELCO's core framework spanning Innovation, Finance, Skills & Capacity Building, Backward & Forward Linkages, and Policy — designed to spur creation, adoption, and scale of sustainable energy solutions.

• Millet Mentor: A livelihoods initiative supporting millet farmers and processors through sustainable energy interventions.

• WORK AT 45°C: Design for Dignified Work: A built-environments initiative addressing heat stress in workspaces through design innovation.

• Bamboo NEXT Design Residency: A design-focused residency programme exploring bamboo-based sustainable solutions in Meghalaya.

• Solutions Portal & SELCO Labs: Digital platforms and innovation labs supporting the scaling of sustainable energy solutions across sectors.

Impact

Since its inception, SELCO Foundation has helped 900,000 people improve their livelihoods and enabled 4.8 million people to access improved and reliable health services through sustainable energy driven solutions. The organisation has developed over 120 solutions demonstrating sustainable energy's link with development, working with over 200 partners on piloting and scaling these solutions. SELCO's focus geographies include the North Eastern Region (hilly terrain, floods, limited infrastructure), Odisha (cyclone-prone, tribal and forest communities), and North Karnataka (heat stress, drought-prone, high migration), while also serving as a knowledge and technical partner in other Indian states.

SELCO Foundation is an excellent fit for professionals passionate about sustainable energy, rural livelihoods, healthcare access, inclusive finance, and grassroots innovation who want to help build long-term, replicable poverty alleviation models across India.